Device for producing sausage-type products

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a device that is used for the continuous productions of sausage-type products comprising a bead which is covered with a skin that is obtained by means of gelation. For this purpose, the inventive device comprises a coextrusion head which delivers into a gelation tube. According to the invention, the tub is circular in shape and defines an annular, peripheral channel in which the bead exiting the coextrusion head can be wound into a plurality of coils before leaving the gelation bath. Moreover, means are provided for creating a current in the bath so that the bead is driven continuously at more or less the coextrusion speed.

Within the context of this invention, these products consist of a strandmade up of minced meat or fish and/or vegetables covered with a skin andcut up into portions, having any cross-sectional shape, althoughgenerally round. And concerning the production of these products, theyare obtained by coextrusion of a strand coated with an initial basecomprising, for example, one or more hydrocolloids such as sodiumalginate or pectate, pectin, carrageenans, etc., which base is intendedto form the skin by gelation in a bath downstream from the coextrusionmeans. After being immersed in the bath for a specific period of time,the strand is cut into portions, rinsed, dried, then packaged. In acontinuous production mode, the strand exiting the coextrusion headpasses into the gelation bath stretched out horizontally so as todetermine the required immersion time.

Therefore, a continuous production line for such products typicallyincludes a device made up of a coextrusion head dispensing into theupstream end of a gelation tank, the length of which is determined withrespect to the coextrusion speed and required dwell-time or immersiontime for the shaped strand. But on either side of this device, theproduction line may most often include means common to the production oftraditional sausage or other products, such as a stuffer-type storagemeans upstream from the coextrusion head and a portion-producing machinedownstream from the gelation tank, which is equipment that manymanufacturers already possess. However, for them, the problem is totherein incorporate the aforesaid device, due to the significant lengthof the gelation bath. And in any event, this length is excessive due tothe ground dimensions that it produces.

The invention results from a search to eliminate this disadvantage, inother words to very substantially reduce the overall dimensions of agelation tank such as this, without thereby requiring a change in theproduction parameters, which are the coextrusion speed and the immersiontime in the bath, and taking into account the fact that, upon exitingthe extrusion head, the shaped strand remains fragile and brittle for agood portion of the immersion time in the gelation bath.

According to the invention, in a device for continuous production ofsausage-type products consisting of a strand covered with a skinobtained by gelation, including to this end a coextrusion headdispensing into a tank containing a gelation bath, said tank is circularin shape and defines an annular peripheral channel in which said strandexiting from the coextrusion head can be wound in a plurality of turnsaround means delimiting the inside of said channel, before coming backout of said gelation bath, means also being provided to create a currentin the latter, in order to continuously entrain said strandsubstantially at the coextrusion speed.

A simple and therefore preferred way of creating said current forentraining said strand into the gelation bath is to provide for saidtank to be circular in shape and rotational around its axis of rotation,in order to be driven in rotation in such a way that the circumferentialspeed of the inside of said channel is substantially equal to thecoextrusion speed; this has the additional advantage of almosteliminating the relative movement between said strand and the meansdelimiting the inside of said annular channel around which it is wound.

In one preferred embodiment of the invention, said tank containing thegelation bath is a substantially cylindrical vat, and it may comprise acentral dome in order to define said annular peripheral channel. Saidannular channel advantageously communicates with the inside of saiddome, e.g., by way of perforations in the wall of the latter, in orderto increase the volume and consequently the operating endurance of thegelation bath.

These characteristics and advantages of the invention, as well asothers, will become more apparent in the following description, given inrelation to the appended drawings wherein:

FIGS. 1 and 2 are respective top and side schematic views of a deviceaccording to the invention; and

FIG. 3 is a schematic axial section of a gelation tank forming part ofthe device of FIGS. 1 and 2.

Considering first FIGS. 1 and 2, they illustrate the basic features of adevice according to the invention for the continuous production ofsausages, which, at its upstream end, comprises a coextrusion head 1dispensing a strand coated with an initial base into a gelation bathcontained inside a tank 2. The strand must be immersed therein for acertain period of time in order to achieve successful gelation of itsskin, which, together with the extrusion speed, will determine animmersion length of this strand.

The coextrusion head 1 can be supplied by means of a conventional pieceof equipment for the formation of the strand, known as a “stuffer,”designated by the reference 3 in FIGS. 1 and 2, and by an assembly 4made up of a storage hopper and a pump for the formation of the surfacelayer.

Downstream from the gelation tank 2, the strand together with its skinis taken up again for later processing which, in the example shown,involves passing it through a portion-producing machine 6. The lattermay be a conventional machine, such as the one constituting the objectof French Patent No. 2 725 876 by the company Nijal S. A.

Thus, in actual practice, it is seen that the device according to theinvention may comprise a stuffer and a portion-producing machine thatare already at the disposal of potential users in conventional sausageproduction lines.

And therefore, one of the major advantages of the invention is to enablea gelation tank to be easily integrated into these already existinglines.

In order to do this, and in accordance with the invention, the gelationtank 2, as it better appears in FIG. 3 where it is shown as an axialsection, is a substantially cylindrical vat, preferably flared slightlytowards the top, whose centre section is occupied by a dome 21, which ispreferably slightly tapered with its large base on the bottom of the vat2. The dome 21 thus defines a trough-shaped, annular peripheral channel20 inside the vat 2, where the strand exiting the coextrusion head 1will be received.

The latter, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, dispenses in a tangent directionand downwardly into the channel 20, which has a sufficient height andlength to enable the strand to be loosely wound several times around thecentral dome 21, i.e., over the length corresponding to the requiredimmersion time, before re-emerging while being taken up onto a conveyor5, itself oriented in a tangent direction. It is shown in the samealignment as the coextrusion head 1, but, of course, it may have anydirection in relation thereto.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the gelation bathmoves longitudinally inside the channel 2, at a speed substantiallyequal to the coextrusion speed, in order to continuously entrain theimmersed strand; and this carrying current is advantageously obtained bymaking the entire tank 2 rotate around its axis of rotation X-X and inthe flow direction of the coextrusion head 1. The fact that the tank 2is rotating also has an advantage in that there is practically norelative displacement between the immersed strand and the side wall ofthe dome 21, which might therefore be replaced by another type ofstructure, such as a series of vertical bars.

For illustrative, non-limiting purposes, yet substantiated byexperimental testing, the tank 2 may have an average diameter as smallas 0.60 m, approximately, with a channel 20 of an average width of 0.15m, in order to loosely accommodate at least ten turns of the strandwound around the dome 21, corresponding to a length of 10 to 12 metres;and it can rotate at a speed of the order of 20 revolutions/minute.Nevertheless, of course, reliability can be improved by increasing thediameter of the tank 2 and by consequently reducing the number of turnsof the strand. On the other hand, as illustrated schematically by thelevel line N in FIG. 3, the entire volume of the tank 2 below the top ofthe dome 21, including the interior space of the latter, is preferablyavailable to the gelation bath, in order to increase its operatingendurance. To this end, the channel 20 must be designed to communicatewith the interior of the dome 21, by way of passages, for example,consisting of perforations in the wall thereof.

1. A device for continuous production of sausage-type productscomprising a strand covered with a skin obtained by gelation, includinga coextrusion head dispensing into a tank containing a gelation bath,wherein the tank is circular in shape and defines an annular peripheralchannel in which said strand exiting from the coextrusion head can bewound in a plurality of turns around structure delimiting the inside ofsaid channel, before re-emerging from said gelation bath, means alsobeing provided to create a current in the latter, in order tocontinuously entrain said strand substantially at the coextrusion speed.2. A device as claimed in claim 1, the tank being circular in shape andadapted for rotation around ban axis of rotation, such that thecircumferential speed of the inside of the channel is substantiallyequal to the coextrusion speed.
 3. A device as claimed in claim 1, thetank containing the gelation bath being a substantially cylindrical vat.4. A device as claimed in claim 3, the vat comprising a central domedefining the annular peripheral channels.
 5. A device as claimed inclaim 4, the annular channel communicating with the interior of the domein order to increase the volume and consequently the operating enduranceof the gelation bath.
 6. A device as claimed in claim 5, the channelcommunicating with the interior of the dome by way of perforations inthe wall of the latter.
 7. A device as claimed in claim l, thecoextrusion head oriented to dispense in a tangent direction anddownwardly into the channels of the gelation tanks.
 8. A device asclaimed in claim 1 including a take-up conveyors for the strand exitingthe gelation tank oriented above the channel, inclined and oriented in atangent direction.